twinset; Lutz & Patmos knits cool, Cashin-worthy cashmeres for Coach.(Reed Krakoff signs)

Byline: Sally Singer

Call it synergy, call it synchronicity, but when Reed Krakoff, the creative director of Coach, served as a judge for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, he certainly wasn't expecting to emerge from the experience with a new knitwear designer. Krakoff had for some time felt that Coach was ripe for its first venture into the world of cashmere sweaters, yet it was not until he became familiar with Tina Lutz and Marcia Patmos (of Lutz & Patmos), finalists but not prizewinners, that the apple fell from the tree. Once the competition was over, he approached the duo, and a deal was struck to develop a tiny capsule collection of cardigans and ponchos and pullovers for a dozen Coach stores. "It seemed like a great relationship," Krakoff said. "These are people who know what they are doing in the industry."

Lutz and Patmos, who for six years have made minimalist fashioncentric knits (they've collaborated with the likes of Christy Turlington, Sofia Coppola, and Carine Roitfeld), saw the venture as an opportunity to work with "the iconic Coach hardware," as Lutz puts it. The dog leash, the turn-lock, and the big buckle cooked up all those years ago by Bonnie Cashin would, they figured, look just right on ...